Robert Rouse v. Wachovia Mortgage, Fsb

OPINION

McKEOWN, Circuit Judge:

One might think that 150 years after Congress established national banks in 1863, the question of their citizenship for purposes of diversity jurisdiction would be well established. Not so. The relevant statute is ambiguous, the courts are split on the question, and the Supreme Court has not squarely decided the issue.

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1348, national banking associations are “citizens of the States in which they are respectively located.” Id. The critical word — “located”—is not defined in the statute or elsewhere. Nor does its meaning flow easily from dictionary…